The issue of encroachment of school lands is a problem that does not want to go away despite varied efforts by stakeholders to address it. The issue of encroachment of school lands is a problem that does not want to go away despite varied efforts by stakeholders to address it. Recently, concerned but helpless headmasters of schools in the Upper East Region pleaded with society for assistance to stop encroachment on school lands by private individuals. The issue came up once again last Saturday when President Kufuor, in a speech read on his behalf at the centenary anniversary celebration of Saint Francis Training College of Education at Hohoe, advised traditional rulers to liaise with school authorities when they are offering lands for sale. This is because often, lands belonging to school were given out by a previous traditional ruler. Decades after his death, there comes a successor who may genuinely not have known about the transaction and has no access to the records. He may want to sell or lease a parcel of that land to prospective buyers. It is to such chiefs that the President is addressing his appeal. Though ignorance of the law is no excuse, the President is implying that these chiefs genuinely, may trully not be aware of any transaction carried out in the name of the traditional area with the government or other owners of the school. The President is, in effect, pointing out that if any such genuine cases of ignorance exist, they should not be an excuse for disrupting expansion plans of the schools affected. The President has put it mildly, and we hope that such traditional rulers and other encroachers on school lands have not missed the message. Knowing the strong-arm tactics usually adopted by some of these encroachers, including the use of landguards who resort to violence, including the use of weapons, the Times wishes to plead with heads of schools affected by encroachments to go to court to have their rights protected. Populations are expanding, and with it, schools. The coming years are going to be critical for schools as they will seek to expand to accommodate higher intake. They must do so without limitations regarding access to land which they know belongs to them. Law and order has not broken down in Ghana; we are not a lawless country, and so the law must be seen to work on behalf of the helpless. Might must not allowed to be superior to right. This is where the courts come in. We plead with judges and magistrates to let the law be seen to work. The impunity of the mighty can be checked only by the law, and it should be through laws that work. Credit: Times Editorial